And the "Mother of the Year" award goes to...

someone else!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    Wes just told me (at 5:00 pm) that it was Drake's birthday today.  What??????  How do I forget my son's first birthday??????  I mean totally and completely forgot.  Seriously, I can't remember ANYTHING these days.  We've been planning on celebrating Drake's bday when Steve and Lynda come in town but I really can't believe I forgot today was the real day.  Sorry Drake!!!  Happy Birthday to the sweetest, happiest, cutest little boy on the planet.  So glad you are mine:)

Any-hoo, I met up with Kara Howard (know her from Blacksburg college days) for breakfast this morning.  Stella was at school so we took Drake and Reese to Pump It Up, a bounce house.  Reese had a blast.  Her favorite part was the slide, which is super, duper fast!!  I'm surprised she wasn't scared.  But she did it again and again and again.

 

Drake hung out on his car while Reese ran around.



And here is Reese when it was time to leave.



Stella and I enjoyed a fun game of chase when we got home.



And she did some singing.

Brrrrrr

It's cold outside!!!!  Luckily, it warmed up a little today and we got the kids outside.  But the rest of the week was cold and rainy.  Blah.  Wes told me it's going to get down in the 30's this week.  Not my favorite.   We still haven't put a fire in the fireplace.  Maybe in the next few days.  I need to go buy S'mores supplies:)

Reese just cracks me up.  She is such a copycat.  From time to time, I will tell her "wait a minute" when she asks for something.  She has decided to turn the tables on me.  Every time I ask her to do something, she holds up 3 fingers and says "3 more minutes."  I say "no, right now."  She says "one more minute."  She is going to be in sales like her daddy.  Constantly bargaining.  Here is a cute video of her.

And here are her animal sounds.

Drake is able to hold his own with his big sisters.  He looooooooves bath time.  Can you tell?

 

Some cute pics.

Reese loves to read.

And watch Dora.  Don't mind Stella dancing on the kitchen table on the background.  No big deal.  Did you notice the mini recliner Reese is sitting in?  Wes snagged that at Cost-Co and the girls love it.  Super cute.

 

This is random....we've noticed that people are decorating trees for x-mas on a stretch of highway near our house.  Today, I counted 6 trees decorated.  We drove by a middle-aged couple decorating a tree today and I wanted to pull over and ask them why they are doing it.  Talk about getting in the holiday spirit a little early!!!  Bizarre.  

 

catching up on videos

Not much news from here.  Took a cute video of Stella today.  You can see her trying to get some words out at the beginning of the video.  She's making progress!!!

Reese talks more every day, if that's possible.  I will try and capture a video of her.  Here are a few things she says that crack me up.  When something good happens (like getting a popsicle) she says "Yay, Woo-Hoo!!"  She loves butterflies, but calls them "butt-fries."  If you offer her something she wants, she says "O-kaaaaaay."  Quite the cutie.  I do have a video of her singing Do-Re-Mi.

 

And here is a video of all 3 kiddos in the playroom, each doing their own thing.

And another video of all 3 of them. Not sure why Stella is kissing the legs of the table. But Reese thinks it's a good idea.

 

And one more video of playroom shenanigans.

Here is a video of Drake playing with cars.

Still waiting for Drake to take his first steps.  He loves standing up so I have a feeling it's just around the corner.  

E-I-E-I-OHHHHHHHHHHHH

Stella treated our Sunday morning meeting to her animal sounds during a loud rendition of Old MacDonald.  Very loud.  She was quiet for the first 15 minutes before she started singing.  Then she wouldn't stop.  Sigh.

We've had a nice weekend.  The weather has been GORGEOUS and we've been outside a lot.  Drake learned to go down the slide.  

And he loves wearing Daddy's hat.

Wes just ran to get some firewood.  Excited to have our first fire in our new home.  As long as it stays in the fireplace.  Speaking of fires, I don't think I shared what happened last time we were out of town.  Lynda was here watching the kids when all the smoke detectors went off at 2:00 in the morning.   UGH!!!!  We have the worst luck with smoke detectors - this happened in our Houston house a couple of times.  I just hate that the first time it happened here, it happened to Lynda.  She called Wes and he guided her to the breaker box in the garage, where she shut them off.  And they are still off.  I asked my electrician what to do and he said we have one bad detector and since they are all connected, they all go off.  And there is no way to tell which one is bad.  Really??????  He suggested replacing them all.  I have an idea of which one is bad - it kept chirping when I replaced all the batteries when we moved in. I think I'll replace it and see what happens.  Fingers crossed they don't go off when Wes is out of town. Which brings me to my next story.  Wes was out of town this past week when I awoke to the sound of a different alarm coming from the garage.  I ran out there to discover a flashing red light on a septic tank alarm system located right next to the ceiling.   I called Wes because I remembered the previous homeowner telling us this alarm goes off during heavy rain, which was the case.   Wes said the only way to turn it off was at the septic alarm.  So I found myself dragging out the 8 foot ladder and standing on my tippy toes to reach the alarm.  WHY does this stuff only happen when Wes is gone?????  

Happy Halloween

The girls still fit in their bumblebee costumes from last year so that was easy!   I crammed Drake into a pumpkin pajama suit.  Then we headed to the neighbor's house.  There are only 7 or 8 young couples in our neighborhood so it was nice to meet everyone at one place.  Here are the pics I got.  The girls were more interested in the toy car than anything else.

I took these pictures the other night before bedtime.  The kids were watching an episode of Dora and they actually let me comb their hair.  Cutie pies.

I forgot to show you the latest update to Stella's room/playroom.  Lynda took the chair and pillows back to Houston for a re-do.  Wish I had a before picture.  Dark brown seat cushion and maroon pillows = dark and ugly.  Now it's beautiful!!!!

I need to do another video tour of Stella's room.  It's looking good!!

I am having fun playing with the slow motion feature on my new phone.  I have watched this video of Drake a hundred times today.  He HATES eating solid food.  He still gags as soon as I put something on his tray.  Here I am trying to get him to eat a puff.  Not much luck.

Nighty-night!!!

odds and ends

We are getting LOTS of use out of our back deck.  When it's just me and the kiddos and it's a little difficult to lug all 3 downstairs to the backyard, I just lock all the gates and let them loose on the deck.  Here's a picture I took while washing dishes - Reese is building with her Legos on the back table.

Speaking of the back deck, I've decided to get this hot tub up and running since the cooler weather is here.  I drained it after I took a water sample to Leslie's Pool Supply and they shook their head at me.  He threw around words like "hospital" and "staph infection" and that was all it took to convince me to drain it and start over.

I took out all the filters, head rests and other parts that I can soak in a chlorine solution overnight.

And then I got to work!!!    Vinegar, baking soda, a few rags and lots of lots of elbow grease.   Looks pretty good, huh?

I will fill it tomorrow morning and I have a spa guy coming at noon to walk me through the system.  Maybe Saturday night we will get a nice soak once all the chemicals are balanced!!

Let's go outside!!!

This is why we moved to Austin.  We are having so much fun in our backyard.  We can play outside for hours and never break a sweat.  The kids are loving all the room we have to run around.   Reese and Stella have already learned the areas that they can play in and the areas that are off limits.  They might need a reminder once in a while, but overall I can sit back and watch them play without having to chase them.   The first area they love to play is where the playground equipment is.  Steve and Lynda brought our Houston plastic playground to us and the previous owners left one for us.  So we have two!!   Wes also hung a swing in that area.  The girls love to slide and swing.  (On this particular day, Stella found a pet rock that she carried around all day, as you will see.)

Next to the playground is a bush covered in small colorful flowers.  Both girls love sticking their nose into the bush to get a sniff.  

Another favorite is chasing footballs in the flat, green space and running a lap around their track.  Down the stairs, around the gravel path, up the other staircase, then back to where you started.  Reese runs this track about 20 times a day.  Surprised she still has a bootie left.  

Another play spot is down the hill at the fire pit.  The girls like to gather piles of acorns on the stone bench.   And you'll notice the "Relax" sign hanging on the tree.  That is Wes's early birthday present.  We spotted it 2 months ago while furniture shopping and Wes really liked it.  I kinda shrugged my shoulders and acted indifferent.  But inside, I was thinking "That is the perfect birthday surprise!!  I'll hang it when he's out of town!!!)  So while Anadean was here, we made plans to hang it while the kids were napping.  And just as I was going in the garage to grab it, the garage door opened.  Wes was home early!!!!  So I made him hide in his office and wait until we had it up.  Not quite the surprise I was hoping for.... I had planned on not saying a word and waiting until he noticed it.  Whatever!!  Still love the sign.  And he did too!!!!

And while we are cruising around the yard, poor Drake is stuck in his exersaucer watching all the action.  But he doesn't seem too upset about it.

Here's a picture of Reese working on her i-pad next to Dean, her new best friend.  

And here's a sweet one of Daddy reading with Reese.  

Videos - Here is Drake standing up.  SOOOOOO close to walking.  

And Drake laughing.

The girls love to take turns going down the slide.